What was the First Saudi State?
The First Saudi State was the earliest phase of Al Saud rule centred on Diriyah, its capital, before expanding into Najd and other parts of the Arabian Peninsula. Imam Muhammad bin Saud assumed power in Diriyah in 1727, the year Saudipedia and the official Founding Day website use for the state's beginning. English Wikipedia also calls it the Emirate of Diriyah. This historical state was not the Kingdom named in 1932, and the two entities should not be assumed to have had identical borders.
Founding question: why do 1727 and 1744 both appear?
The year 1727 marks Muhammad bin Saud's accession in Diriyah and the state's beginning in official Saudi chronology. The year 1744 concerns Sheikh Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab's move to Diriyah and Muhammad bin Saud's support for his religious movement; Saudipedia's founder biography confirms this sequence. English Wikipedia's state article begins its period in 1744 and discusses the official adoption of 1727 separately. The dates therefore reflect different ways of defining the period's beginning, not a single founding event occurring twice; the political and religious alliance followed the accession.
Diriyah: the capital and At-Turaif
Diriyah was the state's political decision-making centre, and its At-Turaif district became an important seat of government. Its surviving palaces, adobe buildings and geometric decoration illustrate Najdi architectural traditions. UNESCO links the district's significance to its growing political and religious role in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and inscribed it on the World Heritage List in 2010. The designation covers At-Turaif, not the whole city of Diriyah or all the First Saudi State's territories.
Rulers: from Muhammad bin Saud to Abdullah bin Saud
Four imams ruled in succession: Muhammad bin Saud, who assumed power in Diriyah in 1727 and ruled until 1765; his son Abdulaziz bin Muhammad, 1765–1803; Saud bin Abdulaziz, 1803–1814; and Abdullah bin Saud, 1814–1818. This sequence traces leadership through successive generations of the family. Abdulaziz's reign was associated with territorial expansion, and the state's influence reached widely under Saud, while Abdullah faced the final phase of the Ottoman campaigns.
Expansion from Najd into other Arabian regions
The state did not acquire its territories all at once. Its rule spread from Diriyah to Najdi towns, and Riyadh came under Abdulaziz bin Muhammad in 1773. Its influence later extended into Al-Ahsa, parts of eastern Arabia, Asir and the Hejaz, including Makkah and Madinah. Local support, alliances and military campaigns all formed part of this expansion. Control of the Hejaz and its holy cities became a direct point of competition with the Ottoman Empire; these regional references do not describe fixed borders throughout the state's existence.
1811–1818: campaigns and the fall of the capital
The Ottoman Empire tasked Muhammad Ali Pasha, its governor in Egypt, with confronting the Saudi state, and his campaigns began in 1811. His son Ibrahim Pasha subsequently led forces into Najd and besieged Diriyah. The siege ended with Imam Abdullah bin Saud's surrender and the capital's fall in 1818, bringing the First Saudi State's rule to an end. Destruction in Diriyah and the removal of members of the ruling family followed. The endpoint concerns the loss of the seat of government, not the disappearance of the town or the Saudi family from history.
What continued after 1818?
Diriyah's fall did not permanently end the history of Al Saud rule. Imam Turki bin Abdullah restored Saudi rule from Riyadh in 1824, beginning the Second Saudi State with a different capital. The first state's significance lies in the emergence of regional government from Diriyah, its political and religious alliance, and urban centres whose surviving remains continue to be studied. Founding Day, observed on 22 February, commemorates the officially recognised beginning in 1727; National Day on 23 September concerns the Kingdom's unification and naming in 1932.
Tourism and nature
Related people
- PersonImam Muhammad bin SaudFounder and first imam of the First Saudi State in 1139 AH/1727 CE, who made Diriyah its capital and ruled for forty years, uniting most of Najd.
- PersonImam Faisal bin Turki Al SaudImam Faisal bin Turki Al Saud was the second Imam of the Second Saudi State. He ruled in two periods: the first from 1250 AH/1834 CE to 1254 AH/1838 CE, and the second from 1259 AH to 1282 AH (1843–1865 CE).
- PersonImam Saud bin Abdulaziz Al SaudImam Saud bin Abdulaziz bin Muhammad Al Saud was the third imam of the First Saudi State, which took Diriyah as its capital. He led the Saudi forces at the First Battle of Al-Hanakiyah in 1228 AH/1813 CE, was described as close to his people and humble in his dealings, and his era saw the scholarly councils of Diriyah flourish.
- PersonImam Abdullah bin SaudImam Abdullah bin Saud bin Abdulaziz bin Muhammad Al Saud was the last imam of the First Saudi State, ruling after the death of his father over the period 1229–1233 AH/1814–1818. During his reign the siege of Diriyah took place; he then surrendered and was transferred to Egypt and then to Constantinople.
- PersonImam Muhammad bin Abdul WahhabImam Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab was a Saudi reformer who lived and taught in Diriyah and called for the oneness of God and a return to what the Prophet, peace be upon him, brought; his call became tied to the Saudi family, and from Diriyah the influence of the First Saudi State spread.
Related topics
- RegionRiyadh RegionA central Saudi administrative region encompassing the national capital and varied Najdi governorates, with connections to Diriyah, oasis settlement, government and modern economic activity.
- GovernorateDiriyah GovernorateA governorate north-west of Riyadh on Wadi Hanifah, founded in 850 AH/1446 CE, capital of the First Saudi State and home to the World Heritage site of At-Turaif.
- HistoricAt-Turaif DistrictA historic district at the heart of Diriyah, built in the mid-eighteenth century CE, seat of the First Saudi State and a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2010.
- HistoricDiriyah GateDiriyah Gate is a development, cultural, and tourism project in Diriyah, northwest of Riyadh. It comprises At-Turaif, which is inscribed on the World Heritage List, and presents more than 600 years of the history and culture of Saudi Arabia.
- HistoricShubra Palace MuseumShubra Palace Museum is a Saudi museum in the historic Shubra Palace in the city of Taif, in the Makkah Region, and is a prominent historic landmark distinguished by the elegance of its design and the grandeur of its traditional architecture. The palace was built in 1905, consists of four floors containing about 150 rooms, and was converted into a museum in 1408 AH/1986.
- EventEmirate of Jabal ShammarThe Emirate of Jabal Shammar is an emirate that arose in the Hail region, and it came to govern the region after the Emirate of Al Ali that preceded it. In its last years it was linked to its position towards the Ottoman State during the First World War, and then its era ended with the annexation of Hail to the Saudi State in the reign of King Abdulaziz in 1340 AH.
- EventEgyptian Campaign on DiriyahThe Egyptian Campaign on Diriyah was a military campaign directed at the First Saudi State, launched by a commission from the Ottoman Sultan to Muhammad Ali, who assumed the rule of Egypt in 1220 AH; its forces reached Diriyah in 1233 AH/1818 CE after wars that lasted nearly seven years.
- EventBattle of Wadi Al-SafraThe Battle of Wadi Al-Safra was a battle fought in 1226 AH near Madinah, and it is one of the major battles in the history of the First Saudi State. The Saudi forces in it were led by Imam Abdullah bin Saud bin Abdulaziz, after his father Imam Saud bin Abdulaziz called for unifying the ranks and defending the land, and it ended with the defeat of Tusun bin Muhammad Ali Pasha.